NEW 
NEW 
sn Suffex; it being a prodigious work, ten yards broad 
an fome parts, leven in mod, a yard and a half deep in 
ftone, and near three miles long. 
NEW'EKLOW, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 
Beraun : feventeen miles fouth-eall of Beraun. 
NEW'EL, f. The upright poll round which the (lairs 
are carried, being that part of the ftaircafe which fullains 
the (leps.—Let the (lairs to the upper rooms be upon a 
fair open newel , and finely railed in. Bacon. —A new tiling; 
novelty: 
He was fo enamoured with the newel , 
That nought he deemed dear for the jewel. 
SpenJeCs Shop. Cal. Map. 
NEW'ELL, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of 
Brzefc : twenty-four miles fouth-well of Pinfk. 
NEW'ENDEN, a village in Kent, with a bridge over 
the Rother, which here divides the county from Suffex; 
four miles fouth-eall of Cranbrook. It was anciently a 
city, and the chief place for ftrength in this fide of the 
county, till about 4885 when the firfl king of the South- 
Saxons belieged and took it by (form from the Britons, 
ut them all to the fword, and razed it to the ground; 
lit it was rebuilt in the reign of Edward I. Here was a 
priory, the firfl of theCarmelite-friars in England, founded 
in 1241 ; and in that part of the parifh called Callje-Tall 
there flood a caftle, which was ruined by the Danes in 892. 
This townfhip is governed by a bailiff and an under bailiff. 
There was a harbour here formerly much frequented, for 
the river falls nine miles off into the harbour of Rye; 
but it is now a poor village, where an alehoufe is the belt 
houfe; and the church, which is ill-built, is out of repair. 
Roman coins have been dug up here. It has a fair on 
the (irlt of July. 
NEW'ENHAM, a village in Bedfordfhire, ea(l of Bed¬ 
ford; had formerly a monaftery.—A village in Devon- 
(hire, near Axminfter; had formerly a monaftery. Another 
village in Devonfliire, near Plympton. — A village in 
Hertfordfhire, on the north fide of Baldock. 
NEW'ENHAM. See Cape Newenham, vol. iv. 
NEW'ENT, a fmall market-town in the county of 
Gloucefter. Its original appellation, according to Leland, 
was New Inn; from a building erefited for the accommo¬ 
dation of travellers, when the communication was firft 
opened by this road into Wales. An alien-priory was 
founded in this town, foon after the Norman invafion, 
by Roger de Montgomery; at whofe requeft it was fub- 
jefted by the Conqueror to the Benediftine abbey of 
Conneille in Normandy. Henry IV. granted its poffef- 
fions to the collegiate church of Fotheringhay in North- 
amptonftiire, to which they continued annexed till the 
diffolution. On the (cite of this priory the court-houfe 
was built; an ancient gateway, and fome fmaller frag¬ 
ments of the monadic building, yet remain. The town is 
irregularly built, and is but of little importance; though 
formerly it was much larger, and had the privileges of a 
borough; it was alfo governed by a bailiff, whofe office 
appears to have fallen into difufe about the end of the 
17th century. A houfe, now dilapidated, dill bears the 
name of the Booth-hall. This church is a fpacious itruc- 
ture, of the archite&ure of various periods; as it appears 
to have been three times partially rebuilt. Over the porch 
is a tower, terminating in a lofty fpire, eredled, with the 
roof of the nave, about the year 1675: the latter is fup- 
ported by ferews without pillars, in a manner fimilar to 
that of the theatre in Oxford. This town and its vicinity 
were diftinguiftied by many military Iranfaftions during 
the civil wars. The parifh, which includes a circum¬ 
ference of nearly twenty-five miles, produces great quan¬ 
tities of coal: two pits have been recently funk by fub- 
feription ; the thicknefs of the feam is between four and 
five feet; the depth to the coal about forty-one yards; and 
a navigable canal was made a few years ago to carry them 
to Hereford; &c. - 
The population of this place, according to the cenfus 
3. 
II 
of 1811, is 2538; houfes, 511. Market-day, Friday; fairs, 
Wednesday before Eafter and Whitfuntide, Auguft 12, 
and Friday after September 19. Newent is nine miies 
north-weft of Gloucefter, feveu from Ledbury anil Rofs, 
and 108 weft from London. 
NEW'ENTON. See Malmesbury. 
NEW'ERT, a fmall ifiand in the North Sea, near the 
eaft coalt of Louis. Lat. 58. N. Ion. 6. 22. W. 
NEW'FIDLER SE'A, a lake in Hungary, feventeen 
miles in length and fix in breadth. 
NEW'FOUND MILL'S, a town of Virginia: 112 miles 
fouth of Wafliington. 
NEWFOUNDLAND, an ifiand belonging to Great 
Britain, in the North Atlantic Ocean, feparated from the 
continent of North America by the Straits of Belleifle 
and the Gulf of St. Laurence; of a triangular form, and, 
without including the bendings of the coaft, about 900 
miles in circumference; firft difeovered by Sebaftian Cabot 
in the year 1497. In the reign of Henry VIII. two Eu= 
gliftnnen, of the name of Elliot and Thorn, traded thither, 
with leave from the crown ; and to fuch advantage, that 
Mr. Hare, a gentleman of eminence in the mercantile way, 
propofed the fcheme of making a fettlement, and perfuad- 
ed feveral of his friends to aftift him in the execution. 
The expedition was extremely unfortunate ; the adven¬ 
turers were reduced to fuch wretcheclnefs through famine, 
that they are reported to have devoured each other. For 
fome years all thoughts of profecuting the diltovery were 
relinquiftied by the English; in confequence of which 
intermiffion,the French and Portuguefe contrived to gain 
a footing on the ifiand, and to carry on a profitable trade 
in fifli and furs. In 1579, Mr. Cotton, a merchant of 
Southampton, employed Capt. Whitburn, in a (hip of 300 
tons, to fifli for cod on the great bank; but the excefs of 
cold obliged him to put into Trinity Harbour, where he 
exerted himfelf fo diligently, that, with fifli and other com¬ 
modities, he cleared the expenfes of the voyage. Tire 
fame officer was again employed by Mr. Crook, a merchant 
of Southampton, to repeat the voyage; and, during his 
refidence in Newfoundland, fir Humphry Gilbert arrived 
with a fmall fquadron of two (hips and a pinnace, with a 
conimifiion from queen Elizabeth to take poffefiion of the 
ifiand for the crown; though he was afterwards obliged 
to evacuate it, and fail for England in the following year; 
but did not reach it, perilliing in aftorni. In the year 1622, 
the Englifii again returned to fettle in this ifiand, under 
the conduft of Mr. George Calvert, who, with more fore¬ 
fight than his predeceffor, brought with him all kinds of 
feeds, grain, and pulfe, and immediately fet his followers 
to work in clearing thofe parts which feemed bell adapted 
to culture; and accordingly the produce of his feeds 
contributed greatly to the comfortable fubfiftence of thefe 
new adventurers, befides affording a (lock forthe enfuing 
years. The French had for a long time been in poffefiion 
of Placentia, and with it of the principal part of this 
ifiand ; but without any moleftation to the fettlements of 
the Englifii on the eaftern coafts of it: and the veffels of 
both nations' quietly fiftied together. The Ehglifli, how¬ 
ever, long entertained a defire of making themfelves mailers 
of Placentia, as the only fortified town in the ifiand, as alfo 
of the whole fouthern part held bythe French. They had 
tried force and negociation tocompafs their ends; but all 
their endeavours ended in difappointment, till the peace 
of Utrecht, concluded between that nation and Louis 
XIV. of France; when they took advantage of the low 
(late to which that monarch was reduced, and infilled on 
the entire and abfolute ceffion of Newfoundland ; and ever 
fince that time no other nation has fettled there. 
The inhabitants relate, that the ifiand was formerly 
peopled by a race of favage Indians, who fince have re¬ 
tired to the continent; nor do they often vifit the ifiand, 
and, even when they do, they (lay but a very fmall time, 
returning to the continent from whence they came. This 
was, indeed, their cuftom before ever the name of the 
French or Englifii were known in the ifiand. 
The 
